Somewhere Further Than Far Away is due out January 8, 2027 via Nettwerk Music Group.

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Scanning the crowd at Sugar’s show at Detroit’s Masonic Jack White Theatre, it occurred to me that one could have designed a pretty effective bingo card for people-watching. Middle-aged? Check. Bald heads, greying beards, flannel shirts and band tees? Check, check, check and check. Mostly dudes? Another check. The lineup for the ladies’ room was practically nonexistent.

But I’m not here to profile Sugar’s fans. No, I’m here to write about the show.

Reuniting three decades after their heyday, the trio of Bob Mould, David Barbe, and Malcolm Travis has hit the road once again to bring some classic ’90s alt-rock to the masses. The band’s stop at the Masonic on Thursday saw them delivering a career-spanning set that mixed beloved staples like “Hoover Dam,” “Gee Angel” and “Your Favorite Thing” with newly released tracks “House of Dead Memories” and “Long Live Love.” And the band sounded great. Really great. Sugar’s secret weapon has always been its ability to make a racket while keeping things tuneful. The songs may hit hard sonically, but when it really comes down to it, it’s all about the melodies. And three decades on, those songs haven’t lost any of their punch.

Opening the evening was J. Robbins, who delivered a solid solo set armed with nothing more than his guitar and his songs. Robbins, best known for his work with Jawbox, offered a stripped-down version of the band’s signature tune “Savory,” transforming the angular, propulsive original into something a touch more intimate. Other highlights of Robbins’ set included “Exquisite Corpse” and “Dear Leader,” a song he wrote after learning that he shared a birthday with a certain authoritarian American politician. I’ll give you one guess who that might be …

Robbins mentioned during his set how great it’s been to be out on tour with Sugar, noting that the old adage about not meeting your heroes doesn’t always hold true. Some people, he suggested, just need to get cooler heroes.

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“The energy in this crowd tonight is incredible!”

It’s the kind of phrase a band throws out there all the time, the sort of crowd engagement that works to get the audience on their side, but it’s not always necessarily something they really mean. When Jungle Giants frontman Sam Hales delivered the line at Lee’s Palace on Monday night, though, it felt less like obligatory crowd work and more like a statement of fact. After all, not every crowd would have been as willing to jump up and down en masse at the band’s command by the second or third song. Lee’s Palace may not have been sold out, but there were definitely a few diehard fans who made their way out on a Monday night to dance and sing along. Hales even pointed out a few people at the front who appeared to know every word, joking that they were essentially his teleprompter for the evening.

Touring behind their latest record, Experiencing Feelings of Joy, the Australian indie-pop outfit put on a solid show. They definitely know how to work a crowd, and I can only imagine they’d go over well at a festival. As Hales pointed out, the album’s title was an intentional nod to the joy the band feels playing these songs live for a crowd. And while the new material sounded good, I must admit that the absolute highlight of their set came later, when they busted out a cover of Underworld’s “Born Slippy.” The song remains every bit the banger it was 30 years ago, and The Jungle Giants looked like they were having an absolute blast performing it. That’s some feelings of joy in action right there.

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Live, A Place to Bury Strangers is a relentless sonic onslaught. 

Sure, openers Hot Garbage and Shallow Waves had already set the tone for the evening, with each band putting on fairly massive performances in their own right, but once APTBS took to the stage, things were taken to the next level as the NYC noise rock trio proceeded to cover the entire room in layers of beautiful noise.

Actually, scratch that. The band only truly brought it to the next level not when they took to the stage, but when they left it. Midway through their set, the whole band left the stage to play in the crowd. This was not one of your typical “let’s have an intimate unplugged moment mid set” moves. No, this is not the band for that.

Rather, APTBS moved, one by one, into the centre of the crowd to play fully amped up, with Oliver Ackermann wailing into the mic, his distorted vocals soaring above the relentless beat and the feedback-laden guitar. And for practically the entire set, but especially during this moment, drummer Sandra Fedowitz was constantly grinning.

For a band that’s known for its guitar heavy sound, Fedowitz is really their secret weapon, the backbone that drives the whole operation, keeping the beat hard and steady throughout. Rightfully, she was given a moment to shine during the band’s final number, as a couple of drums were moved front and centre while she sang and bashed away to close out the show.

And with that, Ackermann thanked the crowd, thanked the organizers of the festival, and suggested we all go downstairs, where Kill Alters and a few others were playing. I thought about it for a moment, but then decided that my ears had taken enough of a beating for the night, and also, that this was a good (loud) note to end my night on.

See you again next year, Project Nowhere!

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While once-ubiquitous festivals like NXNE and CMW (now rebranded as Departure Festival) have sort of faded in prominence over the past few years, it’s nice to see the recent emergence of Project Nowhere onto the Toronto music landscape. The festival, having started back in 2023 with a focus on more underground and experimental forms of music, has really impressed, not just with their choice to stage all of the shows within an easily traversable handful of West End venues, but also in their well-curated selection of acts, which feels more like a labour of love than the random hodge podge that other festival lineups often seem to be. 

In terms of the music lineup, it’s nicely diverse, running the gamut from experimental electronica to noise rock and hardcore punk to mellower fare. That diversity was on display on the second night of the festival as I made my way from the noisy punk of Piper Maru to the sophisticated, folk-based sounds of Shirley Hurt. 

I started off my night at The Baby G with a bracing dose of hardcore courtesy of Toronto’s own Piper Maru, who were joined on the bill by Head Crack, Mulch, and Dream. Named for an X-Files episode, the Toronto quartet proved that the truth is indeed out there, if by “the truth,” we mean high-energy punk rock. Shortly before the start of their set, the band’s vocalist could be seen laying on her back. I’m not sure if this is a normal pre-show ritual or just something she chose to do on this occasion, but once the show started, she was far more mobile, moving around the stage and even jumping into the crowd at one point – a crowd that featured at least one guy trying to start a pit. Said pit never grew beyond two people, but you’ve got to respect the dedication regardless.

Moving on to my next stop, I made my way to The Garrison for Shirley Hurt. With a warm and inviting sound and a top-notch backing band, Hurt (real name: Sophia Ruby Katz) that served as a nice contrast to all the distorted, heavy sounds that made up the bulk of my Proiect Nowhere experience. And, on a personal note, I felt seen (sort of) when Hurt introduced one song (which I believe she said was called “Wanna Be Paul”) by saying, “If there are any Pauls in the audience, I won’t ask you to raise your hands because Pauls hate that. But know that this song is about you.”

I must admit, I didn’t know that Pauls were so easy to profile, but I definitely would not have raised my hand, so I guess maybe she’s onto something.

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“Toronto, can you hear us? We’re Sunglaciers from Calgary. We’re gonna start playing for you.” 

This was the unassuming introduction Sunglaciers gave themselves as they took to the stage at BSMT 254. And play they did, quickly making the case for themselves with an impressive set that went considerably deeper than that understated introduction might have suggested.

Focusing on the tunes off their latest album, Spiritual Content, Sunglaciers drew the crowd in over the course of their set with a sound that fell somewhere between post-punk and psychedelia. At times, they locked into driving, hypnotic grooves that built in momentum. At others, they shifted into something more atmospheric and moody, creating a sense of space before pulling the music back into its propulsive core. And sometimes, all those bases were covered over the course of one song.

For a band that introduced themselves so nonchalantly, Sunglaciers made one hell of an impression, turning a modest introduction into an expansive and immersive performance.

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